Coming to Victoria!
Where does a beer geek go when they have beer tourism on their brain pan, but not enough time to make it to Portland and back? Victoria! It’s a like a closer, mini-er version of Portland! Minus the awesome train to and from it… And the Whole Foods crammed to the rafters with good US beer… And the street cars… And the ubiquitous great street grub… And with more taxes… on top of higher prices… Sigh.
Actually, Victoria IS great, and boasts one of Canada’s few honest-to-goodness brewery districts. Don’t believe me? Well, what if I were to tell you that a single square kilometre of Viccy-land contains four breweries and three brewpubs? That’s equal to all of Vancouver, and it’s crammed within easy stumbling distance. That’s a density that matches the best Portland has to offer.
For those not in the know, the area is Rock Bay (roughly), and the breweries are Driftwood, Hoyne, Phillips and Vancouver Island. The brewpubs are Moon Under Water, Canoe and Swan’s. Ok, ok. Vancouver technically has six breweries and four brewpubs, but Parallel 49 isn’t up and running yet, and are we really counting Molson & Pat’s Pub? Really? Is Pat’s even still making that swill they call pilsner?
And those establishments are scattered all over the city. A mere 1.6km separates Swan’s and Driftwood, the two most distant contributors to this area’s awesomeness. And 1-2km over the bridge to the west are Spinnaker’s and Lighthouse, making a slight excursion worth while. You could easily walk to more of these hit locations than your liver would like you to. In Vancouver, you’d definitely need a cab. Or five. And good luck with that.
So, where am I going on my expedited two day skip-n-jump through barley-land? I’ve made a short list, but not being native to the rock (well, that part of the rock at least) I’ve likely missed out on some stuff. But here it is:
Breweries
Hoyne — I definitely have to check out BC’s latest craft brewery. They’re just starting to crank out beer, and the early reviews are good. Sean Hoyne learnt his craft over at Swan’s, and those are some serious good beer credentials. Also, they have a slick website and some great bottle art. I love shit like that. I’ll be cruising by during their regular hours Saturday to take in a flight of the goods and likely buy a growler.
Phillips — Phillips also maintains regular Saturday hours with a growler bar. While I’m not a huge fan of many of their regular beers, they have a habit of making some nice smaller run ales (thinking of Hoperation, Krypton, etc).
Lighthouse — These guys, though, do not normally open the doors on the weekends. And that’s where being an internationally renowned beer blogger comes in handy. Dean McLeod himself will be coming out to give me a mini tour, which I can only hope will involve his being distracted long enough for me to sample all the current Small Brewery, Big Flavour beers in production.
Driftwood — What trip to Victoria would be complete without at least hugging the outside of Driftwood Brewing? Luckily, I can get all up inside that biatch, as Jason Meyer will be meeting me on Sunday to let the fox into the henhouse. As Gord as my witness, I swear my intentions are not to club Jason unconscious and load all the 2012 Singularity into the back of my truck. This is absolutely not a thing that will ever happen. (Just kidding Jason; I’m perfectly harmless–unless you count the smell)
Totally unrelated: these are now only $9.99 via mail-order!
Brewpubs
Spinnakers — This is where, many years ago, I had my first sip of truly great beer. I can’t go to Victoria without stopping by to have a pint and watch the bay go by.
Swan’s — Believe it or not, I have actually never had a pint here. This will be remedied; I intend to sit on the patio and people watch over a pint of good bitter, just like all those backpackers.
Canoe — Again with the brewpubs I haven’t been to! It’s even sadder in this case, as Canoe’s beers are much harder to come by on the mainland versus Swan’s.
Moon Under Water — The Moon brews a style of beer that is sadly lacking in general availability: low ABV session ales. To be honest, I fully expect most of my take-back allotment to Vancouver to be comprised of MUB ales. And yes, there is an allotment. There’s no border I need to cross, but there is a trunk that needs to not drag on the pavement.
I will also aim to visit the Cook St Liquor Store and The Beagle, but honestly these 48 hours are starting to sound a bit packed. Have I missed any awesome beer-themed spot that only the locales know about?
I would add Cascadia liquor store to the list. They specialize in all booze from, you guessed it, Cascadia.
Have a great trip! Make sure you have brunch at Mo:Le!
Bonnie
16 Jan 12 at 17:30
Great list, Chuck. Moon Under Water is definitely worth checking out. I’d make it your afternoon hangout, because you can pop in for three pints and leave almost sober.
Sadly, the reason why Canoe’s beers are hard to find on the mainland is that they aren’t worth bringing over. I slagged them pretty thoroughly in a blog post about my beer trip to Victoria last year: http://sloppygourmand.com/2011/07/06/victoria-brewpub-pilgrimage/
Have fun in Canada’s craft beer wonderland!
Ben Coli
16 Jan 12 at 21:47
Chuck,
would love to see you pop by Vancouver Island Brewery! Our taproom is always stocked for a quick tasting! Let me know if you need me to show you around! Cheers,
Jeff.
Jeff K
16 Jan 12 at 22:02
@Bonnie – Cascadia looks to be kinda out of the way, but we’ll see what we can do.
@Ben Thanks for the tip. Since this weekend is likely to not be sunny, I might skip Canoe or limit my tasting to just a single pint.
@Jeff VIB unfortunately didn’t make the short list on a very crowded weekend. However, it’s hard to ignore that I have to walk RIGHT PAST YOUR DOOR, so I might sub in a visit in place of Canoe. I won’t bother you with a tour request, though, as I’ve left that for places that are otherwise closed. I’ll likely be tweeting my location as I go, though, if you want to pop by to say hi.
chuck
16 Jan 12 at 22:30